Welcome to the weekly Cruise News Digest.
Let’s dive in!
This Monday, we explored Virgin Voyages Lady Ships–Scarlet Lady, Valiant Lady, Resilient Lady and Brilliant Lady (coming September 2025). Which have you sailed on?
Portsmouth officially welcomed Virgin Voyages fourth Lady Ship, Brilliant Lady, on Monday, August 18, 2025, as she sailed into the harbour for the first time. Her arrival makes Portsmouth the first city in the world to welcome all four of the cruise line’s Lady Ships. Brilliant Lady remained in port for media, as well as, career events until she began her transatlantic crossing for the Big Apple on Thursday, August 21, 2025.
Disney Cruise Line is adding itineraries to California and Texas. The cruise line will deploy Disney Wonder and Disney Magic to California for two months, September and October 2026, before Disney Magic sails to Galveston where she will offer sailings through April 2027.
Norwegian Cruise Line unexpectedly announced that David J Herrera stepped down as president of the cruise line as part of a “strategic leadership change.” Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ president and CEO, Harry Sommer, acting as interim NCL president stated, “I am excited to work closer with the team at NCL to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead as we embark on our search for the next leader who will guide the brand into the future.”
Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas was officially christened on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. The ceremony took place in the ship’s AquaTheater and was attended by President and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, Jason Liberty, Star of the Seas’ godmother, Kellie Gerardi, Royal Caribbean president Michael Bayley, Captain Rob Hempstead, and Chief Dog Officer Sailor.
Margaritaville at Sea has brought back its popular unlimited non-consecutive voyage Paradise Pass. There are two tiers–the Silver Pass starts at $799 and is intended for those short, weekend sailings, while the Ultimate Gold Pass starts at $1499 and is intended for those longer voyages. Paradise Passes are available for purchase now.
There you have it–this week’s Cruise News Digest.
Over at the La Lido Loca YouTube Channel, Tony took us along on the largest ship in the world. We went along for the live naming ceremony, his first 12 hours onboard, a live show, as well as ship spotting and a tour of CocoCay on his birthday. If you missed any of it, you will want to subscribe to the channel with the notification bell on so you don’t miss out again. You can also catch The Cruise Show wherever you get your podcasts so you can listen on the go.
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